The Mexican authorities have detained six Nepalis along with other nationals during their crackdown on local human trafficking racket, news agencies reported on Sunday.

The detainees, most of them from South Asia, were being smuggled into the United States. During the raid police found 13 people—two from India, five from Bangladesh, and six from Nepal—held in unhealthy conditions waiting to be moved by traffickers, said an AFP report.

The local authorities have also arrested seven Mexican and three Bangladeshis allegedly involved in smuggling. The racket that was based in Mexico City and the Caribbean coastal state of Quintana Roo, were reportedly moving the migrants through Mexico’s northern border with the United States.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said it has not received any information regarding the arrest. Officials said that such cases come to the limelight only when migrant gets into trouble.

MoFA spokesperson Deepak Dhital said the ministry has come across several such cases in the last few months. He lamented that it is hard to trace such cases as victims themselves want to be trafficked in most of the circumstances.

“Our efforts have been to stop these people as far as possible. But people are taking various illegal and dangerous routes,” said Dhital, adding that the ministry would take necessary steps to rescue the Nepali nationals.

The number of Nepalis immigrating illegally to the United States have increased sharply in recent years. The Mexican authority had also arrested 10 Nepalis in July this year.

Posted on: 23 December 2013| The Kathmandu Post